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Video: Second deluge of dead birds falls in Southeast

Transcript of: Second deluge of dead birds falls in Southeast

BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor:People around the country are still talking about what's going on in
Arkansas
, the massive bird kill and
fish kill
. Thousands of each found dead in separate incidents. Birds falling out of the sky. Fish
dead in the water
. And today more
dead birds
, hundreds of them, were discovered just to the south in adjacent
Louisiana
. Our own
Janet Shamlian
is in
Beebe
,
Arkansas
, tonight with more on this mystery.
Janet
, good evening.

JANET SHAMLIAN reporting:Hey,
Brian
, good evening. A grizzly event, believed to be an isolated incident here in
Arkansas
, has now happened again some 300 miles south of here in
Louisiana
. Some 500
Red
-winged
Blackbirds
were found dead, littering a quarter-mile stretch of a highway outside
Baton Rouge
. They were discovered yesterday and they are the same species found in
Arkansas
. Experts say they may never know for certain what caused some 5,000 birds to fall from the sky here
New Year's Eve
, but they do believe the birds were shocked by fireworks and then literally flew into homes, into trees and into each other. As of this evening, birds from both states are at a federal laboratory for testing. Authorities say mass kills like this are not unheard of but,
Brian
, they insist that they are highly unusual, especially happening within days of each

NEW ORLEANS — Some 500 dead and dying birds fell onto a Louisiana highway on Monday, just three days after a similar incident in Arkansas.

The events have led to speculation running from poisonings to "End of Days" scenarios, but a key federal agency emphasized that mass bird die-offs are not that rare.

Most of the birds found on Louisiana Highway 1 near Point Coupee were red-winged blackbirds, as was the case in Beebe, Ark., some 360 miles away. The species is one of the most common in the United States, with a population estimated at up to 200 million.

Philip Seymour Hoffman withdrew a total of $1,200 from an ATM at a supermarket near his New York City apartment the night before he was found lifeless in his bathroom with a syringe still in his left arm, sources told NBC News.

Some of the Louisiana birds will be tested by the National Wildlife Health Center run by the U.S. Geological Survey. But a USGS spokesman told The Baton Rouge Advocate that USGS records showed 16 incidents in the last 30 years where more than 1,000 blackbirds have died all at once.

"These large events do take place," he said. "It's not terribly unusual."

The National Audubon Society agreed that mass bird die-offs are not rare. "Initial findings indicate that these are isolated incidents," Greg Butcher, Audubon's director of bird conservation, said in a statement.

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries also weighed in, saying that necropsies on some birds indicated many "exhibited traumatic injuries." The birds might have flown into nearby power lines, it added.

About 50 dead birds were near a power line 30 or 40 feet from Louisiana Highway 1. About a quarter-mile away, a second group of 400 or more stretched from the power line and across the highway.

NBC News

Dead birds line a rural stretch of highway in Louisiana on Monday.

Dan Cristol, a biology professor and co-founder of the Institute for Integrative Bird Behavior Studies at the College of William & Mary, said the Louisiana birds might have been ill or startled from their roost, then hit the power line.

"They don't hit a power line for no reason," he said.

In Arkansas, preliminary tests showed the blackbirds there, as many as 5,000, died after massive trauma. Experts said the birds were likely spooked by fireworks, lightning or some other loud event and then ran into each other and other objects as they fled at night while roosting.

"The birds suffered from acute physical trauma leading to internal hemorrhage and death," the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said in a statement Monday. "There was no sign of chronic or infectious disease."

The birds were otherwise healthy, according to the statement.

The injuries were primarily in the breast tissue, with blood clotting and bleeding in the body cavities.

Dr. George Badley, the state's top veterinarian, told NBC News that the birds died in midair, not on impact with the ground.

That evidence, and the fact that the blackbirds fly in close flocks, suggests they suffered some massive midair collision, he added. That lends weight to conclusion that they were startled by something.

'Loud noises'
Fireworks that night might have frightened the birds into such a frenzy that they crashed into homes, cars and each other. Some may have flown straight into the ground.

"It was New Year's Eve night. Everybody and their brother was shooting fireworks," said Beebe Police Chief Wayne Ballew. The city allows fireworks only on New Year's Eve and Independence Day.

The commission noted that "loud noises were reported shortly before the birds began to fall from the sky," adding that blackbirds seldom fly at night.

"The blackbirds were flying at rooftop level instead of treetop level" to avoid explosions above, according to Karen Rowe, an ornithologist with the commission. "Blackbirds have poor eyesight, and they started colliding with things."

Another theory was that severe weather such as lightning accounted for the loud noises but this was discounted because the violent weather had already left the area.

"It was hard to drive down the street in some places without running over them," said Robby King.

With the birds, a few stunned ones survived their fall and stumbled around like drunken revelers. There was little light across the countryside at the time, save for the glimmer of fireworks and some lightning on the horizon. In the tumult, many birds probably lost their bearings.

"I turn and look across my yard, and there's all these lumps," said Shane Roberts, who thought hail was falling until he saw a dazed blackbird beneath his truck. His 16-year-old daughter, Alex, spent Saturday morning picking them up. "Their legs are really squishy," the teen said.

Apocalypse
For some people, the scene unfolding shortly before midnight evoked images of the apocalypse and cut short New Year's celebrations. Many families phoned police instead of popping champagne.

'Fresh snack'
Bad weather was to blame for earlier bird kills in Arkansas.

In 2001, lightning killed dozens of mallards at Hot Springs, and a flock of dead pelicans was found in the woods about 10 years ago, Rowe said. Lab tests showed that they, too, had been hit by lightning.

In 1973, hail knocked birds from the sky at Stuttgart, Ark. Some of the birds were caught in a violent storm's updrafts and became encased in ice before falling from the sky. Some were described as bowling balls with feathers.

Rowe initially said poisoning was possible, but unlikely. Birds of prey and other animals, including dogs and cats, ate several of the dead birds and suffered no ill effects.

"Every dog and cat in the neighborhood that night was able to get a fresh snack," Rowe said.

David Lyons, the head of a local chapter of the Sierra Club, told msnbc.com that he was "waiting for the results of the pathology and toxicology tests before I make any judgments about the bird and fish kills.

"So far, the evidence does not suggest that pollution contributed to either the bird or fish kill," he added. "If the test results indicate that contaminants were responsible, then local environmental groups will likely have several questions and concerns about the two events."

NBC News, The Associated Press, Reuters and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.